State reviewing Lorain Road project for problems
By Jeff Gallatin
North Olmsted
Published March 26, 2008

City officials are glad to have state officials going over old ground again in North Olmsted.

Ohio Department of Transportation officials have begun reviewing the work done on Lorain Road from Canterbury Road east to the city border with Fairview Park in 2006. The already deteriorating condition of the road after the more than $1 million construction project less than two years ago has prompted a series of complaints from city officials, motorists, businesses and residents. City Council passed a resolution earlier this year asking state road officials to review the project to see if the work was done in accordance with ODOT bid specifications and guidelines since the project was headed by the state.

James G. Beasley, the ODOT director based in Columbus, sent a letter which North Olmsted officials received last week saying the state would begin reviewing the roadway again this month.

“Our District 12 office in Garfield Heights with the assistance of our Central Office Division of Construction and our Central Test Lab will perform a thorough review of the resurfacing project constructed during 2006,” Beasley said in the letter. “We expect that our review and analysis will be completed before the end of March.

“Please be assured that the department is very concerned about the conditions cited in your letter and the accompanying resolution. We will report to you our findings and conclusions as soon as they are available.”

City officials were pleased with the news that the state is looking into the matter.

“Hopefully, this will lead to better road conditions in that area,” said Mayor Thomas O’Grady. “We appreciate the state being willing to review the matter and see what is there.”

O’Grady said the state had workers out looking around the project area already.

“They’ve taken some samples from the roadway and are doing other work,” he said.

O’Grady said he wasn’t surprised the state came out.

“We have a good track record with the state responding to our concerns when we have them about roads and related projects,” said O’Grady, citing issues with work done on Great Northern Boulevard as another example. “We usually are able to reach some kind of agreement on how to proceed when there is something which needs to be done.”

O’Grady said the state hasn’t given the city a specific time frame yet on when it might issue its report.

“Since they just got the review underway, they don’t have one available yet,” O’Grady said. “I’m sure they’ll get us their information as quickly as possible.”

Council leaders said it will help the city.

“It’s great news,” said Michael Gareau Jr., chairman of City Council’s finance committee. “It’s something which definitely needs doing.”

Gareau, one of the council leaders who sought additional action from the state, said the review should help track down how the project went wrong.

“This way we can look at what might have caused the project to go wrong,” Gareau said. “We can find out whether it’s because the project specs were done a certain way so the work was done that way or is it for construction reasons or some other issue. Ideally, this will help us find a solution because clearly something needs to be done.”

Ward 2 Councilman Paul Barker, whose ward includes portions of the roadway, said once it is determined why the problem happened, the city and state can solve it.

“We need to find the best way to fix it and then act on it,” Barker said.